Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

Illustration of Despite being outnumbered, the Greeks gained vital supremacy at sea over the Persians at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC

The Peloponnesian War: Athens fights Sparta for dominance in ancient Greece

Otto von Bismarck, pictured on horseback, was instrumental in the creation of a unified German state and was among the most influential politicians of late 19th-century Europe.(Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Otto von Bismarck: a brief guide to the ‘founder of modern Germany’

Norman cavalry on the charge in the Bayeux Tapestry. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Why the Nazis fell in love with the Bayeux Tapestry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Harold Godwinson is proclaimed king of England in the Bayeux Tapestry. It may have been commissioned by a Norman but this magnificent artwork repeatedly acknowledges the English leader’s piety and courage. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Why is Harold Godwinson a hero of the Bayeux Tapestry?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval forgeries. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Novelist Kate Mosse on The City of Tears. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler. (Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

Your guide to Adolf Hitler: key facts about the Nazi dictator

This image from the Nibelungenlied manuscript shows Pilgrim welcoming Kriemhild, a fictional character described as his neice in the text (Photo by Alamy)

The forged texts of the Middle Ages: why Europe's holy men turned to counterfeiting. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of the Black Death from the Chroicles of Gilles Li Muisis (1272-1352), Abbaye Saint-Martin de Tournai (Photo by Alamy)

The Black Death: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A guide to the Norse gods. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A guide to the Roman army, plus 10 facts about life in the legions

Adolf Hitler photographed with British politician Henry Vane-Tempest Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (left) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (right), minister of foreign affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. (Photo litzy ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Making friends with Hitler: Britain’s pre-war admiration for the Nazi dictator

The hunt for Caesar’s killers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Speech of Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag inthe Kroll Opera in Berlin after the Declaration of war to the USA, in addition to the lectern to the right: Press Chief Otto Dietrich and the personal adjutant of Hitler Albert Bormann the Brigade Commander o

Second World War

"One of the most puzzling decisions of WW2": Ian Kershaw on why Hitler declared war on America

Did Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler (pictured) ever meet? (Photos by Getty Images)

Second World War

Q&ADid Churchill and Hitler ever meet?

Adolf Eichmann during his trial in 1961

Forgotten voices: the history behind Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Canossa: a medieval clash between church and state. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rebuilding Europe after WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Princess Feodora (left), half-sister of Queen Victoria (right)

Princess Feodora: the little-known sister of Queen Victoria

An Australian Sea Shanty band, c1988

A brief history of sea shanties

Searching for freedom after the Holocaust. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

English cavalry attacking the Sikh at the Battle of Aliwal

Victoria the warrior queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain’s Swinging Sixties: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How historians helped build the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A composite image of Joseph Stalin (left) and Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Hitler and Stalin’s utopian dreams

Statue of Leif Erikson (Leifur Erikssonn) in front of Eric the Red's home. (Photo by Draper White, Getty Images)

Leif Erikson’s voyage to Vinland

Félix Kir in 1947, when he was the mayor of Dijon

Second World War

History heroSimon Farnaby chooses Félix Kir (1876–1968)

19th century advert for snuff

Q&AWhat was snuff?

The battle for Sicily, 1943. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.